Isti Marta Sukma

Cyber/AI/Data Policy & Geopolitics

PhD Candidate in Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Warsaw.

My research sits at the intersection of policy processes, geopolitics and emerging technologies (cybersecurity, AI & quantum technologies). My work combines conceptual inquiry with computational and data-driven methods to address foundational questions about politics and technology. A core part of my work involves the end-to-end development of data, cyber, and AI governance datasets, but also includes significant theoretical depth. Geopolitically, I work primarily on the Indo-Pacific and the EU.

In political science, scholars are often encouraged to choose between being theorists or scientists.
I aim to be both.

My PhD research mainly focuses on policy diffusion, power dynamics, public–private partnerships, and digital sovereignty. I design research pipelines that cover data collection, preprocessing, qualitative coding, validation, and analysis, enabling cross-national and longitudinal comparisons of digital governance regimes.

Alongside my doctoral research, I am a PhD researcher/scholarship holder in the NCN SONATA-19 project on Gender Gaps in Political Participation at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Warsaw. In this role, I am responsible for cross-national gender equality dataset construction of EU policy and legislative sources, quantitative data support, and research dissemination.

In my theoretical work, I am currently developing techno-realism that examines how non-state actors such as BigTech, NGOs, hackers, and transnational networks reshape data governance, redistribute power, and challenge state-centred understandings of sovereignty.

Methodologically, I can do quantitative and qualitative coding, ML-based analysis, network analysis, and text-as-data approaches, including NLP workflows in Python and machine learning-assisted analysis. I also explore the use of agentic AI systems such as LangGraph and CrewAI to support structured, transparent research workflows.

I teach and coordinate an Erasmus+ course on cybersecurity, emerging technologies, and geopolitics for undergraduate and master’s students at the University of Warsaw.

Beyond academia, I bring four years of industry experience in digital and data platforms, including work with EU-based technology and consultancy firms. I regularly contribute to The Diplomat and Medium, present my research at international conferences and policy forums, and serve as Commissioning Editor at E-International Relations.